In a serious German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/formel-1/hamilton-ueber-vettel-nicht-er-ist-unschlagbar-sein-auto-ist-es-12604327.html), Hamilton renewed his opinion that Fernando Alonso is the best driver on the grid, and that having competed against him, one can compete with anyone else. No doubt he is saying that since he beat Alonso in 2007, he should be considered equal to the Spaniard, and above the German.
I don’t think this is an attack against Vettel, it’s more a self promotion by Hamilton; and I guess it reflects a lot of views around here and elsewhere.
I personally feel that Vettel can be compared to Hamilton and Alonso, and even beats them in a few categories.

I don’t like these at all..whether they are Alonso’s samurai Tweets or Hamilton’s self-promotions..Vettel deserves his place among the top 10 of F1’s greatest of all time if he wins 4 championships. Alonso might make that bracket too, but I’m not so sure about Hamilton.

I don’t like this kind of comments, from any pilot. Sure, RBR has clearly made a better job the last 4 seasons, but it’s a bit *disrespectful to his team to say something like that. Mercedes has done an amazing job this year, he should really appreciate that.

And secondly, Vettel has been much better than Hamilton this whole season. While there have been a couple of races/qualifyings Hamilton has been nowhere, Vettel has been constantly excellent in every race.

I still don’t think Vettel is an all time great. Everyone thought Villeneuve was the next big thing, but as soon as he was out of a newey cat,he was a flop.

Vettel is a great driver, but I still think it has been easy for him. Alonso did a great job last year, I don’t think vettel could pull off what Alonso has done. Later in life vettel WILL be ranked as an all-time great, I have no doubt he could win in a different car, but until then I am reserved about vettels current status.

I sense frustration coming through from Hamilton, he is in the top 15 greatest f1 drivers in history, yet he only has 1 wdc to vettels soon to be 4 wdc.

I’m curious, what exactly has Hamilton done, in your opinion, that Vettel hasn’t? Since you rank him among the top 15 greatest drivers, but Vettel is not close.

For every great Hamilton race, there’s at least one for Vettel. And that includes the whole spectrum, great qualifying laps, great races under rain, great races on inferior cars, great comebacks from behind the grid, great dominant races…

Also what exactly does “having it easy” mean? Being on a frontrunner car? Because so has had Hamilton.

I’m not trying to argue you, I’m just curious how somebody can, trying to be as objective as possible, claim Hamilton is that good while Vettel isn’t.

I can’t fault Hamilton for believing that. As a top F1 driver, he has to believe that he’s at least as good as (and hopefully better than) any other driver.

I can fault him for not shutting up about it though. (And I mean “not shutting up” – he seems simply incapable of giving an interview without moaning about Vettels car and how great he thinks it is) He comes across as petty, mean-spirited and jealous. Reputedly he’s a church-going Christian so he could ask his priest about pride and envy.

There is little to gain for Hamilton, and everything to lose. To anyone not anti-Vettel, it just looks petty as he doesn’t echo any pundit’s words and even Alonso has changed his tone, so he’s only feeding his own fans. But if he ends up team-mates with Vettel once, or when Vettel gets a big challenge either through car or team-mate, and he does still shine, Hamilton will just look silly.